Seville!

We arrived in Seville today.  We left Barcelona early to catch a 10AM flight to Seville.  The flight was about an hour and uneventful and we caught a taxi to our hotel.  We are staying in the Alfonso XIII Hotel - part of starwoods luxury collection and it is amazing.  We were upgraded to a deluxe suite which was a pleasant surprise.  The conciege (a young man names Antonio Ponce) gave us a tour of the grounds and a bit of history.  Most of the world's royalty has stayed here - perhaps even in our room.  We arrived a bit early - so the rooms were not ready - but we were well rested and left our belongings with the concierge and walked around the river area.  It was a pleasant afternoon overall.  After we returned, got into our room and showered and changed - we went for dinner at a local restaurant for fish.  We strolled up the promenade a bit and now are back in the room for the night.  See pictures below......

 The grand ballroom at the Hotel (which was built as a palace for King Alfonso's family during the world expo around 1918) - the reception was held here.

 Looking up from the main lobby area - you can see the different ceilings on each floor - much more beautiful in person - but you can see if you look closely

 Another beautiful ceiling

 Andy and Antonio - on the top deck overlooking the city

 another picture of Andy on the deck

 another view off the deck

 Andy found his "throne" in the lobby

 our bedroom

 our sitting room

 the lobby

 the exterior of the hotel - well worth coming to Seville to see

 The electric boat we took on a personal tour of the river - our captain was Cesar - (and he bought the electric boat from California).  It was nice - we were the only two on the tour.

 The Seville Plaza del Toro - where the bullfights are held.  The second oldest building in Spain

 A famous bull fighter - Pepe Luis or something like that

 The Mercado - a food mart of sorts - we went for tapas and a glass of wine

 A street in Seville

 Another market place - across from the bull ring - they also sold "killed bull" - I suspect it is quite tough

 Cesar - our boat tour guide

 Calatrava's bridge - The Alamillo bridge over the river in Seville (Canal de Alfonso XIII) . Built for the world expo in 1992 as part of the cities infrastructure improvements.  This expo led to an almost doubling of the city's size once it was over.

 El Torre de Oro - on the river bank - was the main entry point for all goods from the America's. It was built in 1220.   Apparently Columbus planned his trip from Seville and Magellen left from Seville.   Its about a 3 hour trek to the ocean from here.

 Sue feeding the gees from the boat.

 Sue walking along the river front.  We are on the old town Seville side (known to old timers as where the rich people lived) and the opposite side of the river is called Triana - where the blue collar workers/ artists/ etc live.

the boat were rode on - 

sitting at the outdoor hotel bar - at the end of our tour (Antonio is having us taste some Spanish wines)

 A bridge built by the same person who designed the Eiffel tower - above and below show same bridge.

Barcelona Day 3

Barcelona day 2.

We took the Gaudi tour today.   We saw 4 different Gaudi projects including the Sagrada Familia.  Gaudi was quite an amazing designer.  Apparently he didn't do well in architecture school because he had to work to support himself.  When he graduated his professor said that he was either going to be a famously successful architect or a madman.   People say he was a bit of both.   Sadly he died after being hit by a metro train.  It's an interesting story - you should look it up.   We didn't eat as well as yesterday, but still enjoyed tapas in the afternoon and evening.  We are getting a lot of walking in.

 Andy in the Placa Reial - where we met to start the Gaudi tour.

 One of Gaudi's only public commissioned jobs - to make a lamppost.  It was one of his first jobs after graduating.  He went over budget and didn't finish on time - so they never worked together again.

 Two of the chimneys on the Palau Guell.  Gaudi formed a lifelong friendship with Eusebi Guell - a successful entrepreneur who hired Gaudi to do several projects for him.  This was a home for him to live in.

 Between the carriage entrance and carriage exit is a sculpture designed by Gaudi which contains elements of the Catalan Flag as well as the Phoenix.

 Later we went on the Metro and I thought the girls would like to see what was playing locally

 Metro Station traveling to see other Gaudi buildings

 This is Casa Batllo.  This is build on one of the most pricey streets in Barcelona - the family Batllo owned the building and inhabited the first floor - but rented out other floors.  Some of the original tenants held onto these apartments and now their descendents still inhabit them paying only about $600/month thanks to rent control.  The balconies ( you can't see well in this view) look like skulls and there is a dragon on the top of the building.  it's very cool.

 This is La Pedrera - more a sculpture than a building - made from limestone that was handcarved to make the curves.  Each iron balcony is a one of a kind masterpiece in itself.  Apparently the owner hired Gaudi (but his wife never liked it).  Even the ceilings were carved (as seen below).

 When Gaudi died - the owners wife covered over many of the ceilings because she hated them so much and threw the Gaudi original designed furniture onto the streets.  Our tour guide said that there may be original furniture in some of the neighboring homes picked up from that day - no one will ever know.

 Lastly we visited La Sagrada Familia.  Pictures do not do justice to this place.  He designed it, and painstakingly modeled every aspect of it including the figurines.  He did plaster masks of people to make them lifelike.  To make the babies in the carvings -he went to the local hospital and did plaster masks of stillborns.  It is supposed to be done in 11 years - however it appears unlikely that will actually happen.  Every side represents something different. The west side above depicts the final days of Christ.

 The east side presents the birth of Christ.

 The inside has the golden triangle to represent the Holy Father.  The pillars that support the building are fashioned like trees branching into the canopy of heaven.

 Jesus is on the cross under a parachute - it is quite stunning

 The stained glass is also amazingly beautiful

 He built a school for local children and the children of workers.  The undulating roof is interesting in that it is build from altering the angles of straight lines.

 A model of what his office looked like - including his lunch hanging from the shelves.  He lived in the building for the last years of his life.

The staircase leading down from the pillars that we climbed to the top of.  It was creepy coming down.  

From SF to Barcelona - day 1 all about the food

We left San Francisco Friday at 8AM, spent a few hours in the Newark airport and then onto Barcelona.  Flying First/Business makes an incredible difference in terms of tolerating the flight - we were comfortable, able to get some sleep and the food was good.  No complaints about the trip.

We arrived in Barcelona around 9AM.  Got through customs quickly and took a cab to the hotel.  The room wasn't ready (good thing we had slept) - so we walked around and then took a free walking tour that covered the Gothic area and discussed how to take the best photos (not so sure that applies with iphone cameras - but it was interesting).  I did not know that the people of Barcelona do not consider themselves from Spain - but from Catalonia.  Learned some interesting things like how the Jewish of Barcelona were thought to have caused the Black Plague - because most of them did not get the illness during the great outbreak and they was deemed suspicious.  Now a days - we know it was probably more related to their novel practice of washing their hands prior to meals and overall better hygiene than the average person.   Once the tour was winding down - we had to run as we had reservations at a tapas restaurant called Tickets.  It was a 2 mile walk (with Dad using his iphone GPS) and was so worth making the reservations 6 weeks in advance.  Amazing, really interesting and well presented food.  The only down was that Andy was getting so tired, he had a hard time enjoying the last few items as he was struggling to stay awake.  We walked back to the hotel for a quick nap and then wandered around more in the evening until our next reservation at Espai-Sucre (technically a dessert restaurant - but also with non dessert foods).  The food here rivaled and possibly beat Tickets for both taste and intrigue.  We weren't always sure what we were eating - but it was all amazing.

We finished up there around 11PM and walked back to hotel for more needed sleep.  So far - we are loving Barcelona.  We are posting pictures to the photostream - so hopefully you can see most of them there.  I'll add a few favorites to this blog.

 tree of food - "eggs" made of pistachio ice cream with seeds - hanging strawberries dipped in yogurt glaze, red current churros with a yogurt dipping sauce.

 tomato toast with 6 year aged Jamon.

 tuna hand rolls - these were amazing (had quinoa in bottom and fish eggs on top with saffron thread)

 Amazing dessert  - cinnamon churros with chocolate dipping pudding.

 Sue at Tickets

 These aged ham legs are very popular here. Very expensive as we=ll

 Andy photographing a fountain

 lots of dragons around the area

 Tapas bar at Tickets - where they prepeared the food

 Cathedral

 first course at Espai Sucre  - cauliflower and herb soup with croutons, cheese bread, and some thing with ground sausage that was also amazing

 mint foam, Kefir Ice cream, chocolate cake with mango mousse

we don't need these - but interesting name of a pop-up store.